The Mystery Candidate

Hevesi Separates Himself From Rudy, Attaches Himself to UFT

Under the headline "Hevesi might just kick-start quiet campaign for mayor," The New York Times' previewed comptroller Alan Hevesi's early announcement of his candidacy last week with a story that used the word "might" nine times in 16 paragraphs. Closing with the hunch that Hevesi's desperate rush to announce "might provide him the kind of lift in the polls that might settle nervous supporters," Adam Nagourney's record-setting display of upbeat speculation might have beento borrow a phrasea statement of the Times' hopes as much as it was of Hevesi's. The paper is expected to endorse him.

The next day's front-page Metro piece depicted Hevesi's announcement speech as a salute to Rudy Giuliani, saving until the final two paragraphs, deep on the jump page, any reference to the candidate's rather salty critique of the outgoing Republican. The three tabloids were far more mixed, with the Daily News' Joel Siegel reporting in his lead that Hevesi promised "to build" on Giuliani's successes "while saying not enough has been done to address bad schools, race relations, and police abuse."

The Hevesi campaign drew fine but accurate distinctions between the speech's text and the Times' coverage. Hevesi recited a laundry list of positives about the cityfrom crime rates to budget surpluses to bond ratingsand the Times described the litany as "a notably charitable assessment of Mr. Giuliani's record in office." But asked about some items on the list, campaign spokesman Hank Morris pointed out that the passage did not attribute these achievements to anyoneother than Hevesi himself. "I'm proud to have been part of that progress," the candidate said.

photo: Fred W. McDarrah

At the bottom of the mayoral polls, Hevesi announces and attempts to define himself.

Morris added: "He would give Rudy some credit; he would give Bill Clinton a lot of credit."

Reducing Hevesi's critique of Giuliani largely to a question of style, the Times did not even quote his call "for a new direction for our public schools, for race relations, for police abuse, for making sure there really is a safety net for the poor, and for making everyone feel wanted and included." Nor did it cite Hevesi's declaration that "there's something missing in our city" and that while "some of it has to do with tone," a lot of it has to do "with substance."

Hevesi didn't limit himself to the usual caveat about those "left out," a phrase even Giuliani has used on those rare occasions, such as victory night in 1997, when he has been in a healing mood. Instead the comptroller said too many, especially in the minority community, "have felt trampled upon, that they don't count, that their neighborhoods have been neglected, that city services haven't been apportioned fairly, that City Hall doesn't speak for them." To leave this out in a Times story suggesting that Hevesi delivered a speech that in part could "conceivably have come from Giuliani himself" is to distort, fitting Hevesi neatly into the Times' apparent overview of the Giuliani age.

Hevesi's other speech last week was about what he has branded his number one issueeducation. As much as the candidates agree on several core education issuesno vouchers, no privatization, more money, higher teacher salariessome sharp differences have appeared. The comptroller announced a courageous willingness to raise taxesimposing a surcharge on the wealthy as a last resortto finance his education program. Council speaker Peter Vallone denounced the Hevesi proposal, saying he was willing to designate all property tax revenue for schools, which he claimed would add half a billion.

As ludicrous as the notion is that the city's prime revenue stream could be limited to a single service destinationremoving discretion in times of budgetary crisisVallone compounded the problem by simultaneously declaring that he wanted bigger property tax cuts in this year's budget than Giuliani had already proposed. Vallone has led the charge to cut co-op and condo taxes, just as he did to eliminate the income surcharge that Hevesi is now talking about partially restoring.

The passion in Hevesi's speech was more about the plight of teachers than kids, the reverse of the January education speech of Hevesi opponent and Bronx borough president Freddy Ferrer. Both trotted out their own personal experiences to document their interest in restoring public educationHevesi as a "career educator"; Ferrer as a minority kid in an increasingly minority system who recalled how schools gave him "a sense of empowerment" that carried him out of poverty.

Ferrer charged that the use of words like "inequity" to describe the funding of city schools "masks" the reality, calling it instead "a robbery perpetuated on the most voiceless in our city." Ferrer contended that neither the governor, the mayor, nor the state legislature"Republicans and Democrats alike"fulfilled "their responsibility to the children of New York City." He added that the powers that be "assume that the current system will be quietly accepted because parents are overwhelmingly poor and working class, Black and Hispanic."

Hevesi's emotional high point, on the other hand, was his declaration that "teachers are not the enemy" and his promise to "treat them like partners, not pariahs," a clear swipe at Giuliani. Nonetheless, the two wound up on the same page when it came to key reforms, with Ferrer going so far as to specify a 30 percent boost in teacher salaries, even though he criticized the Hevesi tax hike that might be necessary to pay for it.